Former farmer, railway worker, firefighter, wagon driver, Kirkby Stephen shoe shop owner and janitor Vince Watson has died, aged 93.
The oldest child of the late Robert Ian and Laura Watson, he was brought up at Mill Cottages, Newbiggin-in-Teesdale. His parents, struggling to think of a name, called him Ernest Vincent after a man who lived nearby.
When Vince was two his mother died giving birth to his brother, Ian. His father subsequently remarried Mary Barch, from Hartlepool, and the family grew to eventually include a stepbrother and eight half brothers and sisters.
Vince went to school in Middleton-in-Teesdale, with he and his stepmother walking the three miles there and back every day.
The family moved to Middleton-in-Teesdale and later, as they increased in number, to Darlington. Vince left school at the age of 13 or 14 and took a job at a dairy in Darlington, delivering milk from a horse drawn cart.
He then went to work on a farm at Long Newton, near Teesside airport. He later recalled working in the fields at the end of the runway as Lancaster bombers were taking off for their runs over the Continent during the Second World War.
He subsequently moved to Light Trees Farm, on Stainmore, which was run by his uncle Jack and aunt Ivy. While at Light Trees he formed a lifelong friendship with Jack and Ivy’s daughter, Betty.
He also met Jean Pratt, who lived on the other side of the A66 at Banksgate. During the bad winter of 1947 both Light Trees and Banksgate lost all their animals in the snow and were sold.
Vince continued with farming, first at Ploughlands Farm, Warcop, and then George Scott’s farm at Brough Sowerby. He later went to Broomrigg Farm working for Philip Rudd, and his last farming job was at Hartley Fold, Hartley.
While working at Hartley Fold he married Jean in March, 1951, and they moved into Hartley Fold Cottages.
However, he was worried that if the farm closed they would lose their home, so he moved to Mellbecks, Kirkby Stephen, and took a job on the railways, mainly checking the condition of tracks.
Around 1956 he became a retained firefighter at Kirkby Stephen and continued with the fire service for 27 years, for the last seven as the station sub-officer.
He left the railway and became a wagon driver, delivering farm animal feed. It was around this time that his son Kevin was born, followed by Angela and Howard.
It was in the early 1960s that Vince took over the shoe shop on Kirkby Stephen’s North Road from Ted Abraham. He ran this with Jean until retiring in the mid-1990s and moving into a flat in Market Street.
While running the shop Vince also did a school taxi run for Stan Robinson and was a regular driver at funerals.
He then started at Kirkby Stephen Primary School as the janitor and also carried out this role at the masonic hall.
He also did one day making the lunch for Mill Gardens, where most of his “customers” were younger than he was, and delivered newspapers around local villages well into his 80s.
His hobbies included darts, and he also liked attending whist drives with Jean.
When the number of these events fell, he instead went to domino drives. He was a keen gardener for most of his life.
In his later life, after the death of Jean and Howard, Vince spent holidays with either Kevin in Scotland or Angela in Stoke-on-Trent, and visited his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In April this year he was knocked over by a car and suffered a broken pelvis. After time in hospital and at home he went to Kevin’s home to regain his strength, but this was not to be and he died in the Vale-of-Leven hospital, near Loch Lomond.
He is survived by his children Kevin and Angela, nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
The funeral was held at Kirkby Stephen Parish Church. Glyn Jones Funeral Directors, Appleby, had charge of arrangements.
